Chapter 422 Whack-a-Mole
Japan is short of resources and backward in technology. Before the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War, Japan urgently purchased 16 150mm howitzers from Germany to strengthen its army's firepower.
Even so, when the Japanese Army attacked Fortress Arthur, the problem of insufficient firepower was fully exposed.
The 280 heavy artillery used by the Japanese Army to capture Arthur's Fortress was borrowed from the Japanese Navy.
After occupying Fengtian, the Japanese Army captured a batch of 150mm heavy artillery equipped by the Kwantung Russian Army. The problem of lack of firepower was finally improved to a certain extent.
Therefore, Kuropatkin should be killed simply because he did not destroy supplies during the retreat.
Fortunately, the artillery captured by the Japanese army were all stand-up guns, not the most advanced barrel-back guns, and the threat to the Russian army in the Far East was limited.
This is also thanks to the incompetence of the Ministry of War, which did not provide equipment and equipment for the Russian army in Kwantung.
Otherwise, the management and withdrawal technology will no longer be a secret.
The Japanese 150 howitzer has a range of no more than 6,000 meters and has limited power.
The rocket launchers were enough to effectively suppress the Japanese artillery.
After fully realizing the nature of the group of princes in St. Petersburg, George completely lost his illusions about St. Petersburg.
Now not only St. Petersburg, the Russian army in the Far East also needs a hearty victory to boost military morale.
Not long after the Japanese artillery fired, the Russian airship troops found the Japanese artillery position.
The Japanese army is not equipped with rocket launchers. Once the artillery positions are deployed, it is impossible to move quickly.
Japan doesn't even have cars. Although the 150 howitzer weighs only 2 tons, animal power can only be used to move the artillery.
After having the rocket launcher, George became more and more cautious about the use of army heavy artillery.
The barrel of the army's heavy artillery has a lifespan and must be replaced when it is worn out.
The barrel of the rocket launcher has no rifling, it is just a tin tube. This thing is not as much as you want.
Da Shanyan put a lot of thought into the attack. With artillery, he must have skilled artillery to give full play to the role of the artillery.
Therefore, the commander of the Japanese artillery position was Williams, a British instructor hired by the Japanese army.
Williams once served in the British Army. He retired after the Boer War. He accepted a high-paying job from the Japanese army and came to Japan to train artillery.
Williams' military rank was lieutenant colonel, and his salary was about 20 times that of a Japanese lieutenant colonel.
Williams lived a very comfortable life in Japan. The Japanese military not only provided Williams with servants, but also provided him with two nurses to take care of Williams' physical and mental health.
Williams' contract did not include frontline operations, but was only responsible for training artillery for Japan.
Before the war broke out, Williams was not optimistic about the prospects of the Japanese army, so he did not have high expectations for his job.
The direction of the Russo-Japanese War was seriously beyond Williams' expectations.
So after the Japanese army occupied Fengtian, Williams came to Fengtian from Japan and went to the front line to command operations.
"Negotiations have begun. There is no need to attack. Attacking can only waste the lives of soldiers."
Williams does not approve of the Japanese attack.
Before coming to Fengtian, Williams had no idea that Dashanyan would continue to attack, otherwise Williams would not come at all.
The Russian Empire knew there were British and Germans working for Japan.
Alekseev and Kuropatkin were fine and did not take this situation to heart.
After George became the governor of the Far East, there were rumors in Japan that the Russian Empire would liquidate these mercenaries who illegally participated in the war after the war.
Everyone in the Far East knows that Grand Duke Yuriev’s anger will be repaid.
Therefore, Williams' current position has completely shifted towards Japan.
It cannot be said that I have no position.
By accepting employment from the Japanese military, you have made your position clear.
"If we can capture Ice City, we will control the Eastern Railway and the entire Kanto; if we can capture Amur -"
Williams' deputy Kawamura Sho was thinking wildly.
Dashanyan's purpose is very clear. While seeking better conditions for negotiations, he will occupy more areas on land. The outcome of this battle will determine the pattern of the Far East in the next few decades.
The Russian Empire is not the Qing Empire. Even if Japan wins the war, it will not be able to squeeze much oil out of the Russian Empire.
The British have done a lot of work behind the scenes in order to balance the balance of power in East Asia and Europe.
Japan's losses in the Russo-Japanese War have far exceeded those of the Sino-Japanese War of 1884-1898. The Japanese army lost more than 60,000 people in the capture of Arthur's Fortress alone.
After losing the Pacific Fleet and the Second Fleet one after another, the Russian Empire has lost the ability to attack the Japanese mainland.
It was also impossible for Japan to completely defeat the Russian Empire.
Japan’s domestic conflicts are more serious than those in the Russian Empire. This spring, a severe famine broke out in Japan, and tens of thousands of people died of starvation.
If a large amount of supplies had not been captured after occupying Fengtian, Dashanyan could only retreat to protect itself, let alone attack.
So Japan has to cease the war, otherwise Japan will be dragged down by the war.
Once the war is over, we don’t know when the next war will start, so Dashanyan will go out in full force this time to get as much as he can before the ceasefire.
The Russian artillery counterattack came earlier and more violently than Williams imagined.
In order to break through the Qinghe defense line, Dashanyan concentrated all 70 heavy artillery pieces to provide fire cover for the attacking Japanese army.
When the airship appeared in the sky, Williams vaguely realized that the situation was not good and ordered the troops to move their positions immediately.
Kawamura Sho completely obeyed Williams' orders, but before the Japanese army had time to take action, the Russian army's fire strikes followed.
George's counterattack used all 60 rocket launchers, which can fire 1,440 rockets in one round.
With so many rockets, accuracy is no longer important, as long as it's about the same, if one round is not enough, just shoot another round.
So when the Japanese artillery position was engulfed in flames, Williams was stunned.
“Impossible, this is impossible—”
The power of the rocket launcher was completely beyond Williams’s understanding. The firing speed of the retractable cannon, no matter how well-trained the artillerymen are, will not exceed 3 rounds per minute.
The explosions that Williams heard were almost continuous.
The scene of thousands of rockets exploding intensively is indeed spectacular, and its power can be said to be devastating. The end of the world is coming in the next second.
With Williams' understanding of the Russian army, even if all the heavy artillery of the Russian Empire was dragged over, it would not be able to achieve this level of intensity.
Kawamura Sho was completely dumbfounded and couldn't say a word.
After the rockets washed the ground, the Japanese artillery positions were in a mess. The 150 heavy artillery purchased at a high price was swaying here and there. Many artillery pieces fell apart and were completely irreparable.
The artillery shell storage area behind the position has now become a huge crater.
Looking across the entire position, not a single Japanese soldier could be seen. All the Japanese soldiers had been mixed with the soil kicked up by the explosion.
Ring ring ring——
The phone in the command center suddenly rang.
Kawamura Sho picked up the phone.
"Moxi Moxi - there was an earthquake just now. How is the situation over there?"
The other end of the phone doesn't know what happened yet.
"There is no earthquake——"
Kawamura Xiang was about to cry, this was a man-made earthquake.
“What’s going on?”
The other end of the phone asked.
“Our position was destroyed by the enemy——”
“What is the damage?”
Kawamura Sho’s expression suddenly became ferocious and he yelled into the phone. .
"Our position was destroyed by the enemy! Destroyed! Destroyed, do you understand? Completely destroyed! Our artillery is finished!"
There was silence on the other end of the phone for a long time and then hung up silently.
Williams has not recovered yet.
The Russian artillery, probably worried that the damage was not complete enough, fired another round of rockets.
After another burst of heaven and earth shattering, there was finally silence.
Woo——
The airship that had been cruising in the distance slowly flew over. From the ground, the airship seemed quite small. In fact, the length of the airship reached 150 meters, which was similar to a battleship.
Kawamura Sho finally came to his senses, picked up a rifle and rushed out of the headquarters, aiming at the airship and shooting continuously.
"Bagaya Road, are you satisfied now? Go to hell, all wolves on the road! Go to hell!"
Kawamura Sho fired all the bullets and still kept yelling.
Williams could only smile bitterly. This thing looked small. It was at least a thousand meters above the ground. Not to mention a rifle, even a heavy machine gun couldn't reach it.
Williams thought the Russian airship was flying over to assess the damage.
Unexpectedly, the airship flew directly towards the headquarters.
Nagasaki had been bombed by airships, and airships were no secret to the Japanese army.
But Williams is not afraid, because the defense of the headquarters is quite complete. Unless the airship drops a bomb weighing more than one ton, it will be impossible to penetrate the headquarters.
The airship is not here to bomb the headquarters.
But here for hot air ballooning.
Since the Japanese army did not have airplanes or airships, they could only use hot air balloons to correct the impact of artillery shells.
The Japanese hot air balloon is right next to Williams' headquarters.
The staff on the hot air balloon did not realize what had happened.
As the airship flew closer and closer, the sense of oppression brought to Williams became stronger and stronger.
Williams suddenly realized that Japan could never win the war.
Tap-tat-tat-
The heavy machine gun fired continuously at the hot air balloon from the pod under the airship.
The hot air balloon soon burst into flames and fell to the ground, and all the observers in the basket were spared.
This was not over yet. The airship did not fly away and continued to shoot wildly at the Japanese soldiers who were running around like headless chickens on the ground.
When fired from the ground, even a heavy machine gun with the longest range cannot hit an airship due to gravity factors.
But hitting it from above will double its power.
There is a game of whack-a-mole in Vladivostok, which is very popular among Vladivostok people.
The shooters on the airship were like whack-a-mole, shooting for 20 minutes before leaving with satisfaction.
I can’t say that I am satisfied, it’s probably because I have run out of bullets.
Once the airship's bullets are out, you can return to the rear and continue to replenish them.
The Japanese heavy artillery was destroyed, but there was no place to replenish it.
Unless they continue to be captured from the battlefield.
Williams decided in an instant that even if Japan offered Williams 200 times his salary, Williams would resign and leave this hellish place.
(End of this chapter)